Too small

I know the feeling on it looking to small. I just got done with remodeling my basement and had a 125g sitting outside in the garage waiting to make the move downstairs. Well I finally got it there and filled with RO and now I wish I bought a 500g and saved the time and hassle of the smaller tank. The 500g would be 8 foot long by 4 foot deep by 25 inches tall. I found it on glasscages.com. Here is the link: http://glasscages.com/?sAction=OrderForm&sProdID=AQ_500Wide8

 

Tangers had a massive 10 or 12 foot tank for sale for the longest time. Not sure what he ever did with it, but he was selling it for a song...

--AJ

 

You could always do multiple 120s making one a reef and the other FOWLR. I know there are some really cool fish that I would love to have, but can't due to having the corals. You could still have it plumbed into a single band end sump and stuff still giving you a single system to monitor.

Once you have your direction, you should host a "planning" party or something and have a few of us in the area come over to give you some ideas on how you could set things up. I know I learned some lessons after setting up my first "fish room" that I rectified when I put my new sump in place recently. A little planning on the front side can save you a lot of frustration and expense later.

--AJ

 

Personally, I wouldn't go over 120G unless you have a good plan for humidity management. I know that everything metal in my storage room (where my sump, refugium and frag tanks are) has rusted out from all of the extra moisture in the air. It's especially bad during the months where the air/furnace are off most of the time.

 

We installed a whole house dehumidifer to combat the moisture issue.

 

There are also bathroom exhaust fans that have a heat recovery feature. I think that would be perfect for a tank room. We put in a whole house heat recovery system that I bought from JJ. Gives you better winter time air too.

 

I ended up just running a dehumidifier with a drain line connected so I don't have to empty it constantly. I have it set to run at 50% humidity and it's not on that often, but it makes a huge difference. The room is much more pleasant to be in now. No musty smell and nothing is damp to the touch.

 

The issue is when you are talking about a large tank the moisture is not confined to one room in the house. Our tank is in the basement and we were seeing moisture on our windows upstairs. We had to smaller units running but that just wasn't enough.

 

I run about 120g inwall and do not have much of a moisture issue, and it's in the basement. I'm not real sure about the huge systems some of the other folks run, but mine is not horrible. I did just finally buy a room dehumidifier to keep in the area, just for helping to dry out any spills, or the occasional heavy rains that let moisture into the foundation. My actual "fish room" is about 15x12, and the only moisture issues I suffer with are the messes I make.

 

Back to the original question. First humidity is an issue with a larger tank. We probably use anywhere from 10 to 15 gallons of RO a day for top off. We do not have any of our tanks covered so that does make a difference but the moisture in the air is going to be a problem. The cost of upkeep is going to be more. When you do a 10 to 20% water change that adds up pretty quickly. Electricity and water bills will be higher. I personally like fish with a few coral so I have many options when choosing what we want to keep because I don't have to worry about them getting to large and out growing the system. If you feel you are one day going to want to go larger, buy the larger tank now. We have purchases one tank vs buying a slightly larger one every couple of years. In the long run we probably spent less on equipment and original setup.

The size of tank is a personal preference and what you intend to do with it. The biggest issues will be humidity and upkeep costs will the pros will be the amount of space to work will. Whether that is landscape, fish or corals the possibilities are endless with a larger system. I never regret having a larger tank and know I would not be satisfied with something smaller because I personally like to options I had for stocking fish. I got into saltwater for the fish not coral.

The best advice I can give you is to know what you want to do with the tank. Think about a stocking list and set the tank accordingly.